1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to the field of electronics, and more particularly, to methods of forming electronic component packages and related structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
A substrate includes an electrically conductive circuit having various electrically conductive features. These electrically conductive features include, for example, traces, vias, terminals, and bond fingers.
The traces of the circuit are long electrically conductive connectors that electrically connected the other features of the circuit. To form a high density circuit, the width and thus pitch of the traces is minimized. As the width of the traces is reduced, the cross-sectional area (the conductor volume) of the traces is reduced thus reducing the electrical performance of the traces. The cross-sectional area of a trace is sometimes called the current carrying cross-sectional area as it is the cross-sectional area of the trace across which the current conducted through the trace is carried.
To maintain the electrical performance of the traces while at the same time minimizing the width of the traces, the traces are formed from a high-grade electrically conductive material. The high-grade electrically conductive material is an extremely good electrical conductor allowing traces having reduced current carrying cross-sectional areas to nevertheless carry a sufficient current. However, forming the traces of the high-grade electrically conductive material is relatively expensive thus increasing the overall cost of substrate.